Michigan State loses six seniors starters off the No. 2 defense in the nation and three starters off the Rose Bowl starting offense. Which player will the Spartans miss most?Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

EAST LANSING — Michigan State football's Rose Bowl run has carried far into January, with Spartan "S" flags still flying on cars across the Great Lakes State and merchants congratulating the state's largest university with signage and school colors abound.

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, whose wisdom has never been more evident, has his players back to work but is also allowing them to continue to enjoy the aftermath and feed off that enthusiasm in their workouts.

The Spartans, who won a school-record 13 games and finished with their highest ranking (No. 3) since 1967, are well aware that Oregon awaits them next Sept. 6 after an Aug. 30 tune-up home opener against Jacksonville State.

The game between Michigan State and the Ducks — likely both top 10 teams and a tailor-made tilt for ESPN's GameDay set — figures to be high scoring.

The Spartans return eight of the 11 players who started on offense in the Rose Bowl, while Oregon has 10 of 11 offensive starters back.

Defensively, Michigan State loses six starters — two off each unit, defensive line, linebackers and in the secondary — while the Ducks are losing seven starters, including their entire secondary.

Spartans quarterback Connor Cook has already said he will step up and take more of a leadership role, and Cook capped off his Rose Bowl offensive MVP press conference by saying there's no reason Michigan State can't win another Big Ten title next season.

"After this year, obviously, the expectations are sky high,'' Cook said. "I think we'll have to realize that. I think we'll come together as a team and have that talk and stress how important next year is, and from what we were able to do this year, and there's no question, there's no reason why we can't do it next year, as well.''

The Spartans will need to find new leadership and scheme around the strengths of the players who return.

The question is, which Michigan State football player will be missed most in the team's quest to repeat as Big Ten champions?

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/7711463/"&amp;amp;gt;Which Michigan State football player will Spartans miss most?&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;